Why The $99 Payment Plan Is The Future Of Photography

Your car is a few years old. So you head out to find a new one. Do you look at the price tag on the sticker? Of course not – what does that truly mean? Instead you look at the payment amount. Does $495 a month work for you? Can you negotiate it to a lower price – a price that fits more within your budget? How about $395 for 60 months? Sure, that works, sign me up.

In today’s society, we live by the payment plan.

Combine your phone, Internet and cable together in one easy payment plan – $129 a month.

Mobile technology? No problem. Add up to 5 mobile devices, unlimited data, 500 minutes and we’ll give it to you for $179 a month.

New house? Sure. With an ARM loan, we can get your payments down to a low $1,500 a month. Does that work for you?

The payment plan is now a part of just about every industry in existence. Furniture. Energy. Even my daughter’s college offers an interest free payment plan.

So why not photography?

Lets say you design a portrait opportunity with all the bells and whistles. They get a morning session with you, inside and outside portraiture, unlimited clothing changes, lots of poses and combinations that separate your family into groupings. You provide creative framing options, coffee table albums, lots of options when it comes to display. Sure they can ala carte it all out. But what if you offered one complete “package” that includes everything from the sitting fee to the final images – all for the unbelievably low price of $199 a month for six months – no interest payment plan of course. Doesn’t that sound more reasonable than a $1200 package? It does to your clients.

Have a wedding photography business? What is the average amount of time a bride and groom will be on your books before you shoot the wedding? 6 months? 12 months? 18 months? Instead of selling them $2,500, $3,500 or $5,000 packages, what if you created monthly payment packages instead?

Lets say you offer an all-inclusive wedding coverage. Unlimited time. Unlimited images. Albums. Framed prints. Extras. Whatever you choose to include in the “package” covers the entire event, beginning to end. Now lets give it a price tag of $5,000. Yes, a lot of brides and grooms will panic when they hear $5,000. But what if we changed it around?

We offer a 6 month, 12 month or 18 month wedding plan. A 6 month payment plan of $833 a month, a 12 month payment plan of $416 a month, or an 18 month payment plan of $278 a month.

All of a sudden the pricing seems a whole lot lower, right? And it does to your clients as well.

Plus you get the added benefit of guaranteed income in the coming months, which also means you won’t face the age-old photographers’ nightmare of high season and low season, feast or famine when it comes to incoming clients and payments.

We're the co-founders of VirtualPhotographyStudio.com and have been writing on this blog since 2004. We started Virtual as a way to help photographers stretch beyond a part time income, and develop strategies to become a Five Figure Photographer or a Six Figure Photographer. Ultimately its all about lifestyle, and if your goal is to live as a photographer 24/7, we think you should have the knowledge and the tools to do so. Welcome!

It’s an interesting idea, The physiological aspect of it being cheaper is something that has been known for a long time, but usually payment plans like the ones you provided as examples have a constant return on investment. For example a mobile phone plan allows you to use your phone for that month. Tuition allows you to study, etc. A wedding plan by contrast does not have this except for the payout at the end. It’s much more like a lay-by system.

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